Just Exempt Us All and Repeal the Law

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February 10, 2014

It’s official – the Obama Administration has exempted or delayed yet another segment of the population. They are exempting mid-size businesses until 2016 and giving big businesses more time. No surprise, as the business community has been vocal in their opposition to ObamaCare mandates. The Treasury Department said employers with fewer than 100 workers won’t have to provide health care to their workers in 2015.

Originally, businesses with at least 50 employees were required to provide health insurance to workers starting in 2014, or pay a $2000 fine per employee. Last summer, the Administration pushed this requirement back to January 2015. Under the newest delay, businesses with 50 to 99 employees will not be required to provide coverage until 2016. Employers with 100 or more workers will still be required to provide health insurance starting in 2015. However, the new rules will only require them to cover 70% of workers in 2015, and then 95% of workers 2016.

Businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees remain exempt from the employer mandate.

Importantly, as part of the declaration the Administration is setting “full-time” to mean at least 30 hours per week.

How can the Administration do that? Modify the law without Congress? With the stoke of a pen, as the President said in his State of the Union.

ObamaCare is a broken promise. Obama delivered the Lie of the Year in his promise: “If you like your doctor, you can keep him; if you like your health plan, you can keep it. Period.”

And the ObamaCare law continues to hurt more people that it helps as millions lose their insurance, and still others cannot afford to purchase what is on the market now.

And while the federal government continues to push states to expand Medicaid, Medicaid’s poor health outcomes and high costs are a major concern to state leaders. As healthcare costs skyrocket, ObamaCare adds another 11 million Americans to a program that more than half the doctors say they will not accept new patients. A new study of Medicaid expansion rates reveals that Medicaid (or health insurance) does not necessarily equate to health care: The Merritt Hawkins report suggests that those Americans will still struggle to actually get health care once Obamacare and Medicaid expansion coverage is instated. Merritt Hawkins concluded that “access to health insurance does not always guarantee access to a physician…many if not most physicians in the 15 markets examined are not accepting Medicaid as a form of payment.”

Last week’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated ObamaCare will cost the US the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs. Note the term “equivalent” as the legislation encourages workers to work fewer hours to qualify for subsidies. Though the law’s supports tout this as a positive “they can spend more time with their families”, lost productivity results in economic losses. Moreover, families often need the additional work to make ends meet.

Is ObamaCare good for health care? Moody’s Credit Rating Service downgraded the health insurance industry’s credit outlook last month, citing risk pool issues, as well as the disruptive climate of uncertainty over the new law.

We responded to today’s news with AFP President Tim Phillips saying: “The bad news about ObamaCare continues to pile up. Last week, the CBO reported that the ACA would cost the nation the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs. Now, we’re learning that the President has decided to delay another one of the law’s key provisions. This is a red flag. It’s clear that ObamaCare is nowhere near ready for prime time.

“President Obama needs to stop picking and choosing which parts of the law to implement or push back. The White House should delay or repeal the law in its entirety to protect all Americans from its negative consequences, which include cancelled policies, rising premiums, and lost access to doctors.”

The American people deserve an exemption of their own. Americans for Prosperity launched www.JustExempt.Me in 2013 to highlight the Obama administration’s efforts to unfairly issue certain groups and individuals special exemptions from ObamaCare.

Phillips went on to say: “President Obama’s piecemeal approach to implementing what’s supposed to be his landmark legislation is unfair and unjust. Americans deserve better.”

Americans realize that ObamaCare is not delivering the medicine our health care system needs.

The bottom line is this: What good is health insurance if you can’t get access to health care?